Chapter 8

He set the tray steadily on the worktop, ladled the starch batter onto it and spread it evenly, then lifted the lid off another pot, poured in water, carefully placed the tray of batter inside, covered it, lit the fire, and steamed the noodle sheets.

Once the Liangpi had set, he placed the tray in cold water to cool it, then repeated the process until he had made enough Liangpi.

Meanwhile, Tao Yan deftly prepared the seasonings for the Liangpi and the flatbread for the Roujiamo. Just as they finished all the preparations, an excited clamor and the cheers and shrieks of children suddenly erupted from the courtyard.

The children from the orphanage had returned from the park as well.

Chapter 8

If one child's volume could rival five hundred ducks, then the return of ten children instantly turned the previously quiet orphanage into a raucous uproar, no less noisy than the farmers' market Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan had just visited.

"They're way too rowdy." Standing at the kitchen door and watching the children in the courtyard tug at the volunteer aunties' clothes while loudly recounting their outing, Huo Baichuan spoke with lingering fear.

Even from so far away, he could hear their ear-splitting shouts. Their voices had that uniquely childish, high-pitched excitement, and Huo Baichuan felt as though his eardrums were about to burst.

"...What's that smell? It smells so good!"

While Huo Baichuan complained about the children's devastating decibel levels, the children caught the scent of braised pork knuckle drifting from the kitchen. They sniffed hard with their little noses and swallowed hungrily, tugging at the volunteer auntie's sleeves as they shouted, "Auntie Zhao, what delicious food did you make? It smells so good! You've made the greedy bugs in my tummy come out!"

The volunteer auntie who had helped Tao Yan shred the cucumbers smiled as she pinched a child's nose, saying gently, "Auntie Zhao didn't make it. The two new big brothers are treating everyone to dinner. They made especially delicious braised pork knuckle!"

"And Liangpi, which none of us have ever eaten before. It's so smooth and slippery—it looks really tasty."

As she spoke, Aunt Zhao waved toward the kitchen and called to Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan, who stood in the doorway. "You two, come over here. I'll introduce you all to each other."

The two of them smiled and walked side by side toward the children.

Perhaps because they had never encountered older boys with this sort of demeanor, the orphanage children were instinctively a little shy. They hid behind the volunteer aunties in twos and threes, tilting their heads as they cautiously studied Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan.

"Big brothers, are you orphans too?"

"Are you really going to treat us to that super, super delicious big pork knuckle?"

"What's Liangpi? Is it tasty?"

"You look so tall and big. Have you already grown up? Mama Director said that once you grow up, you can earn money yourself. You can even leave Jiangzhou City and go somewhere else. Does growing as tall as you big brothers mean we've grown up too? Can we leave the orphanage, go to college somewhere else, and look for our own mom and dad?"

"They definitely haven't grown up yet. If they had, they wouldn't need to come to the orphanage. Mama Director said only children without moms and dads need to stay in the orphanage. Grown-ups don't need to."

"They're already so tall and big, and that still doesn't count as growing up? Then when will we grow up?"

"Growing up is so hard!"

Listening to the children's innocent chatter, Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan suddenly no longer found them noisy. Huo Baichuan crouched down and pinched one child's cheek. "Growing up isn't hard at all. Eat well, study hard, and live step by step. You'll grow up very soon."

"What does 'step by step' mean?" The child tilted his head in confusion and blinked. "Does it mean I should stay in class every day and study hard?"

Huo Baichuan had not expected a child's thoughts to wander that far. He froze for a moment, then could not help laughing. "That's more or less what it means. You really are a language genius."

The child blushed at the praise and said shyly, "I'm not a genius. My teacher says I'm really dumb. I often fail math tests."

Huo Baichuan rubbed the child's head, only to end up with a hand full of sweat and grease. His palm felt sticky and unpleasant.

Without showing it, Huo Baichuan withdrew his hand and stood up. "Dinner's almost ready. Go take a bath and change your clothes, then come to the dining hall to eat. There's fragrant pork knuckle and smooth, cool Liangpi."

The children blinked their innocent wide eyes and said, "Not a bath. Mama Director said we have to wash our hands before eating. Wash them nice and clean, and little bugs won't crawl into our tummies. Big brother, you remembered wrong."

Tao Yan was barely holding back a smile. He glanced at Huo Baichuan, then said warmly to the children, "Then go wash your hands."

"But..." Several children stared straight at Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan. "We haven't introduced ourselves yet. We don't know your names, and you don't know ours."

The faint smile on Tao Yan's face deepened slightly. He had always been cool and distant, meticulous in everything he did, like a precision machine with an exceptionally exact operating system. Every day of his schedule had been a preprogrammed routine, and for years, not the slightest error had occurred.

But ever since he had transmigrated, he had first been harmed by human traffickers, then passed through various places before ending up in an orphanage. He had even been forced by poverty to perform on the street to earn money. These were experiences the former Tao Yan had never even imagined. Though this bizarre ordeal had shattered his normal life, it had also allowed him to feel a long-forgotten sense of ease.

He did not need to worry about performance targets, guard against workplace scheming, fear competitors catching up or plotting against him, remain constantly alert for partners betraying him under the lure of huge sums of money, scrutinize every employee with suspicion in case they suddenly became corporate spies, keep watch over economic conditions and financial news every day, work overtime and rack his brains to complete projects, or continually force himself to be flawless in order to meet his family's expectations and exacting standards...